An Evangelical Activist Embraces #MeToo

When Autumn Miles filed for divorce, from an abusive spouse, the church that she belonged to told her to return to her husband—or face expulsion. Since then, Miles has been on a crusade to call attention to the treatment of women in the evangelical community. She tells The New Yorker’sEliza Griswold that a Biblical scripture about wives “submitting” to their husbands has often been used to justify mistreatment. Although Miles isn’t an egalitarian—she opposes the ordination of women as head pastors—the lack of female leaders in the church strikes her as a problem. “Are we not elevating women to positions because of pride? Because of religion? Because of tradition?” she says. “If any of those things are the case . . . our pastors might need to repent.” And, if that causes a rift in a largely conservative community, she says, so be it.

Dorothy Wickenden has been the executive editor of The New Yorker since 1996.